Analysis of Thriller Opening: 88 Minutes

Elements of thriller opening that i studied:

1. Camera Work
2. Mise en Scene
3. Editing
4. Sound

The Video below is of the first few minutes I studied (Poor quality-I was unable to find one online):

1. Camera Work:

Screen Shot of the wounds on victim

• The sequence uses a lot of close up shots within the first 3 minutes. These close ups are of things such as the bloody hands, rope wound and a clock counting down. The reason closeups/extreme close ups are used is to emphasis the wounds and blood-suggesting someone is dead. The clock close up is also significant, it builds tension and suspense (gives the impression that time is running out) and as we can gather from the film name, time is clearly something significant, (maybe a distortion of time is signifcant as the opening sequence is quite confusing as it does not run in chronological order).




Screen shot of Evidence shot-
zooming in on dead woman


• The camera also zooms in to focus on key things. For example when the camera is shooting the photographs titled 'Evidence', it then zooms in on the woman lying on the floor dead holding a gun, we then are aware of who died, whereas before it was restricted narration-we could only see close ups of the bodyparts, this created an element of mystery and suspense as we did not know who was dead. This creates enigma because we don't know who this woman is, why/how she died and who killed her.

 2. Mise en Scene:

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  Screen Shot of the woman in the club-
  Monochrome

  The footage is quite a low saturation and dark lighting throughout the opening (creating a negative mysterious mood), When we are looking at the evidence and shots of the dead female, it is very low saturated. On one shot of a bloody hand however it starts off as monochrome and then slowly the colour comes in (emphasising the blood). Monochrome or low saturation is something that adds an element of mystery into a shot and is something i feel would be effective if it was to be included in our thriller opening. One example of the effect of monochrome in this opening sequence, is when the woman and man are dancing inthe club together-when the camera is filming the woman, the shot then slows down and turns to black and white-we are then perhaps lead to believe that something is going to happen to this woman (the life/colour has come out of her). This creates suspense as we think something is going to happen.
• Another point also to do with colour and lighting is the clip of the young girl running along the beach. This shot uses high key lighting and hight saturation, we get the impression that this is a flashback/old footage of the woman that is dead. The fact the footage is bright and colourful is perhaps to show how happy everything was when she was an innocent young girl. This shot creates mystery as we do not  know who this girl is and so we may think it was the woman dancing at the club at he start-who is now dead.
• The use of the props is also significant because we see different murder weapons such as the gun and rope-creates enigma, why was there more than one murder weapon? Provoking thoughts that maybe there is more than one death. This builds suspense because we want to find out what it is all about.

Editing:

• The shots of the woman in the club have been edited into slow motion, provoking thoughts that this is a flash back or is building up for something to happen. The fact that it could be a build up for something to happen creates suspense and builds tension in the viewer as they want to find out what is going to happen.
• The fact that we see the woman in the club and then the shot fades in to view the evidence, gives us the impression that it is this woman that has died (however as it is later revealed this is not the case) but this is what we are lead to believe (making the audience think they know something and then adding a twist, thrills the audience and this is a technique we could apply when creating our thriller opening).
• 

  

  Screen shot of the young girl running along the beach-
  blurred creating a ghostly, mysterious effect.

  The shot of the girl running along the beach is also significant. It has been edited to make it look like an old movie, this in combination with the fact it is in slow motion forshadows the idea that this is a flash back (perhaps of the dead female). The effect used also blurs the girl as she is running, creating a mysterious ghost like effect(as shown in screen shot to left). This in combination with the echoing (similarly ghostly) dialogue of the girl gives us the impression that she is now dead)-Creating an element of mystery.
• The use of fades between cuts is effective at creating a mysterious atmousphere, confusing the viewer. This transition is something i feel works effectivly in more mysterious/psychological thrillers.

Sound:

• The opening titles (including the shot of the bloody hand) before the first scene, uses a sinister, dark, mysterious track. There is emphasise on a clock ticking just before we cut to the club scene-forshadowing the fact that time is significant-builds suspense, we think something is going to happen.
• The diagetic music track playing when the male and female are dancing in the club creates a happy, positive atmosphere, however becuase of faded non diagetic suspense music, we get the impression that a disruption is going to happen. This creates suspense because we know something is going to happen.
• When the shot of the 'evidence' appears, we can hear police radiocalls-fading in and out-like a flash back to the calls that were recieved regarding the death(s) (this shows us that it is a police case) and emphasises the reality and seriousness of the situation-builds tension-we want to find out what has happened.
• From the shot of the woman-that turns monochrome;There is a non diagetic track that plays throughout the rest of the opening . This track is mysterious and sad. It uses a pianno to create sad and emotional feelings.  The track is effective as it is parrallel and works well with the footage, although we do not yet know who the person who is dead is-we already feel emotion and sorrow to the woman. Throughout this sequence it cuts between shots of the girl and the evidence; When the girl is on the screen the track provokes more sad feelings in the viewer/more peaceful music (the gentle singing of a woman in the background), whereas when viewing the evidence the music is a lot more mysterious and bold.

By Holly King